Numbers: A Very Short Introduction

Peter M. Higgins

Description

Numbers are integral to our everyday lives and factor into almost everything we do. In this Very Short Introduction, Peter M. Higgins, a renowned popular-science writer, unravels the world of numbers, demonstrating its richness and providing an overview of all the number types that feature in modern science and mathematics. Indeed, Higgins paints a crystal-clear picture of the number world, showing how the modern number system matured over many centuries, and introducing key concepts such as integers, fractions, real and imaginary numbers, and complex numbers. Higgins sheds light on such fascinating topics as the series of primes, describing how primes are now used to encrypt confidential data on the internet. He also explores the infinite nature of number collections and explains how the so-called real numbers knit together to form the continuum of the number line. Written in the fashion of Higgins' highly popular science paperbacks, Numbers accurately explains the nature of numbers and how so-called complex numbers and number systems are used in calculations that arise in real problems.

Numbers: A Very Short Introduction

Peter M. Higgins

Table of Contents

1. How not to think about numbers: the trouble with bases2. The unending series of primes3. Perfect and not so perfect numbers4. Cryptography: the secret life of the primes5. Numbers that count6. A peek below the waterline of the number iceberg7. To infinity and beyond8. Numbers but not as we know themFurther ReadingIndex